We are all Catholics now

PENNY YOUNG NANCE

We Are All Catholics Now | Fox News Skip to main content: Latino/SBC/Fox Business (Home/Slideshow/Interactive: Fox News/SBC/Latino/Fox Business) Skip to main content: Fox News/Fox Business (Article Page: Fox News/SBC/Latino/Fox Business) Fox News Digital Network Fox News Fox Business uReport Fox News Radio Fox News Latino Fox Nation Fox News Insider Register Login Account You're logged in as Account Edit Profile Logout Wednesday, April 7, 2010 as of 11:14 AM ET Search Site On Air Now » Anchors and Reporters » Home Video Politics U.S. Opinion Entertainment SciTech Health Travel Leisure World Sports On Air Previous Slide Next Slide Special Report Weekdays 6p et Fox Report Weekdays 7p et The O'Reilly Factor Weekdays 8p et Hannity Weekdays 9p et On The Record Weekdays 10p et America Live Weekdays 1p et America's News HQ Weekends 12p et America's Newsroom Weekdays 9a et The Cost of Freedom Saturday 10a et The Five Weekdays 5p et Fox & Friends Weekdays 6a et Fox News Sunday Sunday 2p et Fox News Watch Saturday 2:30p et Geraldo at Large Weekends 10p et Happening Now Weekdays 11a et Huckabee Saturday 8p et The Journal Editorial Report Saturday 2p et Justice with Judge Jeanine Saturday 9p et Red Eye w/ Gutfeld Weekdays 3a et Studio B Weekdays 3p et War Stories Saturday 2a et Your World Cavuto Weekdays 4p et Opinion Home Michael Goodwin Karl Rove Judith Miller Juan Williams Dana Perino Amb. John Bolton Doug Schoen Peter Johnson Jr Opinion We are all Catholics now By Penny Young Nance Published February 08, 2012 | FoxNews.com Print Email Share Comments Recommend Tweet How long would it take you to change your mind about a core conviction, something you believe in the very fiber of your being? What if it was written into law and you were forced to betray your conviction? For many Catholics and others, it is a reality happening this very moment. It’s a sad day when the resounding cry among Americans is “How dare he?!” President Obama violated Americans’ fundamental right to religious freedom when he signed into law a mandate forcing religious organizations (using their donor/member dues) to pay for health insurance that covers sterilization, controversial abortifacients, and contraceptives. As the president and CEO of a faith-based public policy group, I believe that President Obama has made a mockery of our country’s religious freedoms. And although my religious-based organization does not take a definitive stance on contraception, in this case, we are all Catholics now! The Obama administration’s unmerciful mandate tears at religious freedom, the very root of American freedom and democracy. In her recent USA Today editorial, Kathleen Sebelius , Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), made a pitiful attempt to defend HHS’ mandate by asserting the Obama administration succeeded at balancing religious freedom and providing women with “critical” birth control. Yet, even left-of-center analysts disagree with Secretary Sebelius. Kristen Powers, political analyst and columnist for the Daily Beast rightly wrote, “The administration claims its decision to force Catholic institutions to pay for insurance covering contraceptives is ‘balanced’ — so why, when religious liberty was weighted against access to birth control, did freedom lose?” Secretary Sebelius, decisively forcing religious groups to deny their deeply held religious convictions within a one-year timespan is not called “balance”; it’s called “tyranny.” Catholics, Baptists, Jews, Mormons, Muslims, and atheists alike should be seething at the White House-directed Department of Health and Human Services mandate, which goes far beyond the issue of birth control to threaten our freedom of conscience. Americans across partisan and religious lines are infuriated by the Obama administration’s ruling, and the backlash is just beginning. The serious indignation sparked by the contraception mandate is so vast that Congress has begun to intervene. Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has set out to overturn Obama’s anti-conscience mandate and has proposed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2012. In his latest New York Post editorial, Sen. Rubio wrote that his bill is “a narrowly focused, common-sense measure that simply says the government can’t force religious organizations to abandon the fundamental tenets of their faith.” According to Life News, 21 senators and many prominent national pro-life organizations have rallied their support around Sen. Rubio’s new legislation, which is currently being amended by both the House and Senate to broaden its parameters. We thank God that Sen. Rubio is at the forefront of this issue, along with 154 Congressional Representative who, on Tuesday, signed a letter of petition calling on .......